NFG
Adriana Rocha
Adriana Rocha is the new president of Neighborhood Funders Group (NFG) after serving for three years as its vice president of programs.
Former president, Dennis Quirin, left NFG in July 2019 prompting the board to undertake a nationwide search. NFG has not been leaderless during this search, as Rocha and vice president of operations, Sarita Ahuja, have served as interim co-directors since Quirin’s departure. Now Rocha has been selected for the top job permanently.
With more than two decades of experience in the philanthropic sector and her years already at NFG, Rocha comes into the position without the need for a lengthy adjustment period.
Rocha first arrived at NFG in early 2016 after working for about a year as a philanthropy and nonprofit consultant in the New York City area. Rocha’s career, however, is most defined by her work in executive positions.
This executive experience began in early 2004 when Rocha was hired as a program officer at the New York Foundation, managing a $1.8 million grants portfolio focused on funding community organizing and advocacy throughout the city. After more than four years, Rocha moved to San Francisco to take a job as practice director for CompassPoint Nonprofit Services. There she led the company’s programs developing and providing nonprofit strategies and support to organizations and social change initiatives for more than six years.
In 2015, Rocha moved back to familiar New York City to become the director of grants and capacity building at the Just Beginnings Collaborative, a nonprofit dedicated to initiating, funding and guiding efforts to end child sexual abuse. It was after a little more than a year in this position that she went into independent consulting. Then, after another year, NFG came calling.
Alison Corwin, Chair of the NFG board excitedly endorsed Rocha’s appointment as president in a press release; “We deeply trust Adriana is the bold, skilled, and creative President we all need at NFG to usher in an exciting new era and build on our 40 strong years of success and expertise. She is able to both foster the necessary partnerships and push philanthropy to create a stronger, collective vision of justice. She embodies the values & goals of members, board, and staff, and her joy is magnetic!”
Adriana Rocha has already assumed her role at the head of Neighborhood Funders Group, becoming the organization’s sixth president in its 40 year history.
